The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-03-10

giDbet and Iorquemada. Inc SYMBOL OF
the domestic and social and private and
public suffering of great multitude of
Gods dear children, pillars of smoke.
But as We look over the story of those
who in all ages have suffered for the truth,
while we leave vengeance to the Lord, let
us band together in one solemn VOW, one
tremendous oath, after having counted the
host of the martyrs, that for each one of
those glorious men and women who died
| for the truth, an immortal soul shall live,
live with God and live forever.
| But, as already limited in the first SEN
| tence of this sermon, nothing can be more
beautiful than the figures of smoke on a
clear sky. You can see what you will in
the contour of this volatile vapor, now
enchanted castles, now troops of horse
men, now hammered procession, now
| winged courierS, now black angel of
| wrath under spear of the sunshine
turned to an angel of light, and now from
horizon to horizon the air is a picture gal
lery filled with masterpieces of which
God is the artist, morning clouds of smoke
born in the sunrise, and evening clouds of
| smoke laid in the FURNISHED sepulchers of
| the sunset.
The beauty of the TRANSPORTED smoke is
a divine symbol of the beauty of the church.
| =.
call those prosecutors of whom spoke the
church. They are the parasites of the
church, not the church Itself. Her mission
is to cover the earth with a supernatural
gladness; to open all the prison doors; to
balsam all the wounds; to moss all the
graves; to burn up the night in the fire.
place of a great morning; to change iron
| handouts into diamond wristlets; to turn
| the whole race around, and, whereas it
faced death, commanding it: Fright about
face for Heaven"
Meet me at any depot the world over,
and with my eyes closed take me by the
hand, and lead me so that my feet will not
| stumble, and without my once looking
down, or looking to the level, take me to
some high roof Or tower, and let me see
the tops of the churches, and / will tell
you the proportion of suicides, of arsons,
of murders, of thefts. According as the
churches are numerous are the crimes
few; according as the churches are few
the crimes are numerous.
The most beautiful organization the
world ever saw or ever will see is the
much-maligned church, the friend of all
good; the foe of all evil; ''fair as the moon
and clear as the SUM-" Beautiful in her
Author; beautiful in her mission; the
|
Christ; the queen of the nations There
are hundreds of kindly institutions, some
caring for inebriates; some for the Grip
pied; some for the imbecile; some for the
misled; some for the blind; but the church
is the mother Of all these kindly institu-
tions. There are ADMINISTRATION or En-
glish, or Scotch, or Irish, or French, or
German, or Italian-but the chut Oh spreads
her mantle over all these, anu will yet
spread it over all nations. Her gates are
beautiful; her songs are beautiful; her
prayers are beautiful; her conversations
are beautiful; her work is beautiful. All
Kings and warriors will yet bow down al
her affairs; all chains of serfdom be shat
tered against her doorstep; all nations will
yet follow her leading. How amiable are
Thy tabernaclesl How sacred Thy affairs
How glorious Thy auditoriums! So grace.
full, SO aspiring, so grand and rolling on
and rolling on, we cry out in regard to her
"Who is this that cometh out of the wilder.
ness like pillars Of smokel"
| Men may desecrate it, as Cromwell die
when he stabbed his cavalry horses in st
PauFs cathedral; or break off the image
of Christ, as did the iconoclasts in York
minister; or hurl against it august literary
antipathies, as did Gibbon; or plot its over
throw, as do some in every community
whose pride and hate and debauchery are
reproved by the ten commandments which
it thunders, and the sermon on the noun
which it breathes But it will stand al
long as the earth stands, the same
unique and woodworking and be
attic and miraculous thing for which
God decreed it.
You lying and hypocritical world, shu
up those ISLANDERS about the church O
Christ, an institution which, tar from be-
! ing what it ought to be, and never pre-
, tending to be perfect, is five hundred
, times better than any other institution
that the world ever saw or dreamed of
The highest honor I have ever had, ant
the highest honor shall ever receive, an,
the highest honor ever want is to have
; my name on her records as member. A
, her affairs repented. At her sacrament
! believed. In her service let me die
From her doors let me be buried. d
church of God Thou home of the righteous
: Thou harbor from tempesti Thou refug
for the wearyi Thou lighthouse of man,
, nationsl Thou type of Heaveni l coul.
: kiss thy very dust with ecstasy of affec
! ton.
For her my tears shall fall,
For her my prayers ascend,
To her my tolls and cares be given
Till tolls and cares shall end"
"Perfumed smoke" says Solomon, il
!, the words following my text. Not like tn
2 fumes coughed up from the throat of
I steam pipe, or poisoned with the gases O
I chemical factories, or floating in blacl
: wrath from the confagrations of home
9 steads, or sulphurous from blazing batter
les; but sweet as a burning grove of CHINA
mon, or jungle of sassafras, or the odors o
a temple censor. "Who is this that comet
d out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke
perfumed with myrrh and frankincenses
Hear it, men and women everywhere, tina
the advance of the genuine church O
r Christ means peace for all nations.
Victor Hugo. in his book entitled ssNine
: ty Three" says: g Nothing calmer thai
smoke, but nothing more startling. Their
are peaceful smokes, and there are evl
; ones. The thickness and color of lin
. OF smoke make the whole difference be
tween war and peace, between fraternit
and hatred. The whole happiness of MAJ
or his complete misery is sometimes ex
pressed in this thin vapor which the win,
scatters at will" The great Frenchmal
5 was right; but I go further, and say tina
as the Kingdom of God advances like pill